Improving the efficiency of UK homes
50 organisations including environmental campaign groups, think tanks, heat pump suppliers, trade Bodies and charities are calling for additional government funds to improve the efficiency of UK homes.
An open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that recent media reports that the government is planning to ramp up incentives to transform existing homes by curbing energy demand for heat would be a welcome step to tackle increased global gas prices.
However, the signatories in the letter have said that the funds should be supported via fresh spending commitments and not from cutting the budgets from other programmes that could reportedly include incentives to improve the energy efficiency of schools and other public buildings.
Energy price cap scheduled for October 2022
The open letter has been signed by organisations that include Greenpeace UK, the Heat Pump Association, the Heat Pump Federation, the UK Green Building Council and the Charted Institute of Housing. It cites findings from the E3G think tank -another signatory of the letter – that concludes that further increases in the energy price cap scheduled for October 2022 will disproportionately impact the bills of lower efficiency households.
Households with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or below, which represents 15 million UK homes, will pay £916 more per year than those with higher ratings, according to the E3G research.
Government to honour its election manifesto commitments
The open letter said that it was calling on the government to honour its election manifesto commitments to provide £1.4bn in additional funding to improve the energy efficiency of homes and invest in public buildings during the course of the current parliament,
It stated, “Now is the time to deliver this commitment and provide additional funding for home insulation, rather than risk placing schools and hospitals under unnecessary additional strain.”
The letter has been published at the same time that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has called on governments around the world to look to prioritise energy efficiency improvements in buildings and the electrification of heat in their decarbonisation plans.
